kyle Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 I know im gonna sound dumb but im new to atari collecting two weeks now 38 games not bad lol. Anyway whats the difference. Between PAL and NTSC format games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fretwobbler Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 NTSC are designed for use in US. PAL is designed for use in Europe and other places. TV's in US run at 60hz while in Europe they run at 50htz. Mostly the games are compatible but you may find colors are a bit messed up - for example if you play a NTSC football game in a PAL region the pitch could be blue. PAL and NTSC systems are not 'compatible' with each others regions because of the voltage (220v PAL- 110v NTSC) but you can get convertors that sort this out. Ive never come accross a NTSC game that wont play in a PAL system so dont worry about it. It can however affect the rarity of a cartridge though - Ghostbusters 2 for example was only released officially in Europe therefore the NTSC version of Ghostbusters 2 is like gold dust compared to the PAL version. ADam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 In the way that there is no US Ghostbusters 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 quoteIve never come accross a NTSC game that wont play in a PAL system so dont worry about it. That is correct for 2600 games but 7800 games are a little different. PAL 7800 games will not work at all on an NTSC 7800 because of the lockout chip. Some NTSC 7800 games will partly work on PAL 7800's but many will not work at all. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Mitch: That is correct for 2600 games but 7800 games are a little different. PAL 7800 games will not work at all on an NTSC 7800 because of the lockout chip. Some NTSC 7800 games will partly work on PAL 7800's but many will not work at all. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org sounds like a kid in the eighties no, there's may ways of playing pal games in usa. PAL game cause the screen to roll on a NTSC TV set (an old one) you can make a modification on your console, buy an adapter, use a TV where you can fix the rolling image, or just use a TV or a VCR that supports both modes .... there's many way to easily solve the problem can somebody stop those US collectors that always try to keep PAL games in the dark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fretwobbler Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 Ubersaurus - quoteIn the way that there is no US Ghostbusters 2. I never knew that. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liveinabin Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 I didnt know that either, just thought it was really rare. So, if US didnt get Salu type releases, was River Raid II released there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 yes, river raid 2 appeared as official activision title, here released by HES. i think when HES left the game, salu took over the last bunch and has produced the last copies in these horrible cases. no more color labels, only these soft black cases and a b/w sticker. the cases tend to bend after all these years, so sometimes it's quite a lot of work to fit the carts in your atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fretwobbler Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 Jahfish - quote: the cases tend to bend after all these years, so sometimes it's quite a lot of work to fit the carts in your atari. After 6 years of owning it and never playing it I now know why my Rampage cartridge wont fit . i'm a real dumbass. ADam [ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: Fretwobbler ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liveinabin Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 I hate Salu carts, I've just given all mine away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 quote: Originally posted by jahfish: no, there's may ways of playing pal games in usa. you can make a modification on your console, buy an adapter, use a TV where you can fix the rolling image, or just use a TV or a VCR that supports both modes .... there's many way to easily solve the problem can somebody stop those US collectors that always try to keep PAL games in the dark? No, Mitch is right about this. 7800 consoles won't play 7800 games for the other TV standard properly, no matter what. On the 7800 it's the console that sets the number of lines per frame and the number of frames per second. A PAL 7800 will always do 50 frames at 312 lines, and a NTSC 7800 will always do 60 frames at 262 lines. The games have to set up their display accordingly, or there will be problems. The best result you will be able to get is a a picture that has the wrong colours, that is positioned either too high or too low on the screen and that plays at the wrong speed. But most games will just crash completely. For NTSC users there is also the difficulty that the NTSC 7800 checks a signature key in the game ROM. If this isn't present (like in all PAL games) the 7800 won't allow the game to switch into 7800 mode. You can get around this by replacing the BIOS chip inside the 7800 console, but given the fact that the results you would get from most PAL games are rather limited, it might not be worth it to most people. The only way to play PAL 7800 games is on a PAL 7800 console connected to a PAL capable TV. And the only way to play NTSC 7800 games is on a NTSC 7800 console connected to a NTSC capable TV. The rolling picture problem that you mentioned exists only for PAL 2600 games played on a NTSC 2600/7800 console. For that combination your suggestions would work. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahfish Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 yeah but that's only for the 7800 ... and that's 60 games besides the 1000s of 2600 games .... i think people spend so much on rare carts, that it can't be such a big problem to buy or trade a 7800 in the other format. sorry, but if you buy expensive rare stuff for 100s of dollars, and then you can't afford 30-50 dollars to get rid of all the problems, then you're a looser .... i have 4 ntsc consoles .... and 8 PAL ones ... 2600 & 7800 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyXB Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 I have no problems with 2600er games, all NTSC games work good on my PAL console. On my Atari Jr. some games flicker a bit, but on the Atari 7800er they work fine. By 7800er games I have only 1 NTSC game, Tower Toppler (because I have think that this is only avaible as NTSC). This don't work on my Atari 7800er. The titlescreen look good, and I can play the game, but the graphic looks so bad that I see nothing. I fall often down. But then I have found a PAL Tower Toppler and this work fine. So first I buy no NTSC 7800er games. Only when I don't get PAL versions. Or I must buy me an NTSC Atari 7800er. But I don't know that in the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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